Maria Rosseels

Maria Rosseels (1916-2005) was an author and journalist. In the 1950s and 1960s, she published several controversial, emancipatory novels which centred on strong, intellectual women. ‘Death of a Nun’ (1961) became a bestseller. Rosseels’ Catholic social novels explore the existential relationship between man and God, a burning question of faith at the time, and champion the modern Catholic’s personal freedom. She was the first woman to receive the Flemish State Prize for a Writer’s Oeuvre in 1983. Four years later she was raised to the peerage.